Government under fire for not signing up to financial transaction tax

The government is under fire from several Irish MEPs for not signing Ireland up to the EU financial transaction tax.

The European Parliament gave the green light this week to eleven eurozone countries - excluding Ireland and Britain - to press ahead with the tax.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said he won't back the measure as long as it is not supported by the UK, in case that it might affect some of the 33,000 Irish jobs in the financial services sector.

However Labour MEP Nessa Childers insists there is no independent evidence to back up claims of negative effects of the proposed 0.1% tax.

Independent MEP Marian Harkin said that although she understands the government’s concerns, the financial sector must be made to pay for its part in the crisis: